Monday, May 19, 2014

New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia’s knee injury is likely to keep him out of action until July 1 and possibly longer, according to general manager Brian Cashman.

Speaking on ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney’s podcast, Cashman said Sabathia has some breakdown of cartilage in his right knee, which caused the pain, swelling and fluid buildup that sent him to the disabled list on May 11, the day after he allowed three long home runs in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sabathia visited noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews last week and was given a stem-cell injection in his knee, a painful procedure that left the 33-year-old left-hander on crutches.

“It’s an unpredictable time frame,” Cashman said. “I’d say you’re talking at least six weeks until you see him on a major league mound again.”

Cashman said Sabathia would need to keep weight off his knee for a period of time and would begin with exercises in a pool to reduce the strain on his knee. He would gradually progress through strengthening exercises and eventually a return to pitching.

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CC is guaranteed $23M in 2015, $25M in 2016, and if he does not suffer from a left shoulder injury during 2016, he gets $25 million in 2017. (The buyout, otherwise, is $5m.)

However, we should note that he started 415 games between 2001-2013, at least 30 starts every year but two (28 starts each in 2006 and 2012). The problem with Sabathia was not giving him a big contract after the 2008 season...it was the re-upping after he opted out a few years ago. Man, CC played that one perfectly...

yes, I would imagine a 6'6", 300 pound man who has been shifting all of his weight onto his right knee at extraordinary pounds of force for thousands of times of year would see some cartilage breakdown.

I'm 5'10", weight 155 pounds and run a bit AND I have some knee cartilage breakdown.

As I am contractually obligated to point out in every CC thread, his statline is trending in a very bad direction. Interestingly, his K and BB numbers are practically at career bests, but his hits/9 and HR/9 are at levels so high that he cannot be better than replacement level with them. 11.3 H/9 and 2.0 HR/9.

To me it looks like he is trying to pound the strike zone with lesser stuff and is getting hammered.

Or he is hurt :-)

This is neither here nor there but a friend of mine has a son who is on the same little league team as Sabathia in NJ. My friend says Sabathia could not be a nicer person. Apparently, you can attend little league games as a major leaguer and _not_ act like Mitch Williams.

The Yanks are outperforming their Pythagorean by 4 wins, something I don't expect to continue. Especially now that they've lost 3/5 of their starting rotation and Soriano (.276 OBP) has turned back into a pumpkin. Jeter and Brian Roberts look finished, and it wouldn't exactly be an upset if one of McCann and Beltran were.

Where did Solarte come from, anyway? Was he on anyone's radar? Baseball Prospectus didn't even mention him in their annual, even in a passing comment.

solarte had over 2500 plate appearances in minor league ball of pedestrian performance. pitchers are throwing him fastballs. as soon as he makes the rounds and pitchers start really trying things will likely change.

#9 catchers can go fast. Particularly those who have been worked hard. McCann's workload in his prime was just a little less than most elite catchers -- #15 of the 26 catchers on the peak list in terms of percentage of team innings caught in best 5 years (just behind Thurman Munson and Johnny Bench.)

It's kind of like pitchers -- though to a lesser degree of course -- in that it's never a huge surprise if a catcher is just suddenly done.

solarte had over 2500 plate appearances in minor league ball of pedestrian performance. pitchers are throwing him fastballs. as soon as he makes the rounds and pitchers start really trying things will likely change.

I'm not so sure. The Yankees' contract with Satan stipulates that they get a bizarrely strong performance from one or two guys a year that no one has ever heard of. It may as well be Solarte this year.

I'm not so sure. The Yankees' contract with Satan stipulates that they get a bizarrely strong performance from one or two guys a year that no one has ever heard of. It may as well be Solarte this year.

Shawn Chacon's mother is going to be pissed at you for suggesting that his summer of 2005 was over his head.

Is it possible that some players get a short term confidence boost from playing for the Yankees, and that leads to a performance spike? It does seem like an oddly consistent phenomenon. (Which is not to say that I'm writing off the deal with Satan possibility) There's Solarte, Ichiro in 2012, Soriano in 2013, Freddy Garcia in 2011, Kerry Wood in 2010...

No one may break out of the pack in the AL East, meaning its champion could end up third among division winners...especially since the likely Central and West champs (Detroit and Oakland) will be able to beat up on divisional weaklings. None of the East teams are pushovers, and they may browbeat each other into submission.